The 20th century

It has been calculated that there are more artists practising today
than were alive in the whole
Renaissance, all three centuries of it.
But we are no longer following one storyline: we are in a new situation,
where there is now no mainstream. The stream has flowed into the sea and
all we can do now is to trace some of the main currents.

20th-century art is almost indefinable, and ironically we can consider that
as its definition. This makes sense, as we live in a world that is in a
constant state of flux. Not only is science changing the outward forms
of life, but we are beginning to discover the strange centrality of our
subconscious desires and fears. All this is completely new and unsettling,
and art naturally reflects it.

The story of painting now loses its way temporarily: it enters upon an
encounter with the unknown and the uncertain. Only the passage of time
can reveal which artists in our contemporary world will last, and which
will not.

We have dates in the 20th century, and pictures to attach to them, but
there is no longer a coherent time sequence. This can be irritating
to the tidy-minded, but it is in fact exciting in its adventurous freedom.
With so many interesting artists, some of whom time may vindicate as of
great importance, there is only space to touch briefly on those who seem
to many observers to be part of the story, and not just footnotes.